Insect AlliesInsect Allies: Friend or foe?

In 2016 DARPA launched the Insect Allies project, budgeting $45 million over four years to transform agricultural pests into vectors that can transfer protective genes into plants within one growing season. Scientists are concerned that such technology might be used for nefarious purposes. In a recent Science article, the scientists note the profound implications of releasing a horizontal environmental genetic alteration agent – implications that touch on regulatory, economic, biological, security, and societal issues.

A DARPA project, Insect Allies, has come under fire last week regarding its potential for spiraling out of control, but also the chance it could be perceived as a biological weapon.

“Darpa launched the Insect Allies research program in 2016, budgeting $45 million over four years to transform agricultural pests into vectors that can transfer protective genes into plants within one growing season,” The New York Timesreported. “That would be exponentially faster than modifying crops through a gene drive, which would breed specific traits into a species over several generations. (Gene drives have been proposed to reduce mosquito fertility, halting diseases like malaria.)”

Pandora Reportreports that a recent publication in Science drew attention to the concerns for such technology being used for nefarious purposes. The authors underscored that the profound implications of releasing a horizontal environmental genetic alteration agent range from regulatory to economic, biological, and even to societal.

“In the context of the stated aims of the DARPA program, it is our opinion that the knowledge to be gained from this program appears very limited in its capacity to enhance U.S. agriculture or respond to national emergencies (in either the short or long term). Furthermore, there has been an absence of adequate discussion regarding the major practical and regulatory impediments toward realizing the projected agricultural benefits. As a result, the program may be widely perceived as an effort to develop biological agents for hostile purposes and their means of delivery, which—if true—would constitute a breach of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC),” they wrote.

Following this publication, DARPA Program Manager of Insect Allies, Dr. Blake Bextine, released a statement. Bextine notes that

Technologies dealing with food security and gene editing certainly do have a higher bar than most for transparency, research ethics, and regulatory engagement, and I believe Insect Allies meets that raised standard. DARPA structured Insect Allies as a university-led, fundamental research program, and has invited in representatives from U.S. regulatory agencies from the very beginning of the program to offer perspectives and learn about the work. The researchers working with DARPA are free to publish their results, encouraged to discuss their efforts, and coordinate with regulatory agencies to facilitate the transition of their technologies from laboratory demonstrations to—someday in the future—powerful new tools that can bolster the toolkit for responding to fast-moving or unanticipated threats to the global food supply.

Pandora Report notes that the UDSA, EPA, and FDA have been involved throughout DARPA’s project as regulatory bodies, but there are concerns that the requirements (a minimum of three kill switches) are not enough. “Many worry that this is an example of a dangerous project done simply to prove we have the capabilities instead of asking if we should (cue Ian Malcolm line from Jurassic Park),” Pandora concludes.